In a major counterattack on Raj Thackeray, Uddhav Thackeray and Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA), the BJP on Monday exposed the names of Muslim voters who had been registered twice in the constituencies won by MVA leaders during the recent Assembly elections.
Senior BJP minister Ashish Shelar held a press conference in Mumbai to “expose” what he said was the “half-truth” being peddled by MVA leaders and Raj Thackeray, who held a big Morcha on November 1 against the Election Commission and irregularities in the electoral rolls.
Shelar listed 31 constituencies where the MVA won and showed how Muslim names had been registered twice or more times as voters. Shelar said it was the BJP that raised this issue many years ago and had even approached the court on the issue. "The very name 'Dubar Matadar' (someone who has been registered as a voter twice) was coined by our leader Shri Ram Naik ji. He was the first one to raise the issue of systematic double voting by minorities a long time ago. This is what we call Vote Jihad, and we are opposed to this," said Shelar.
Shelar lashed out at Raj and Uddhav Thackeray specifically for naming only Hindu voters whose names appear twice in the electoral rolls while 'shielding' muslim voters. He listed the names of Rohit Pawar, Jitendra Awhad, Varun Sardesai, Jyoti Gaikwad, Aslam Shaikh, and Sandeep Kshirsagar, all of whom are MVA legislators in whose constituencies thousands of Muslims have been registered twice as voters.
Shelar said that the Thackeray cousins and the MVA were afraid of losing in the upcoming municipal elections, and hence, were using the fake narrative of irregularities in the voting list to boycott elections. "Whoever wants to go to court can go, but the BJP workers will be active to point out people whose names have appeared twice in the electoral rolls. We will contest elections as the elections have to be conducted before January 31 as ordered by the Supreme Court of India," said Shelar.
Shelar further claimed that during the Lok Sabha elections, many honest voters did not find their names in the voters’ list, and the MVA was responsible for this as it was carrying out Vote Jihad through double registration of Muslims as voters in many constituencies. |
